False Bottom

by Hazel Edwards

  False Bottom

  A Frequent Flyer Twins mystery

  Written by Hazel Edwards.

  Illustrated and designed by Jane Connory.

  Amy and Christopher are twins AND international sleuths.

  Their eco-photographer parents travel often. So the twins fly to meet them.

  Christopher loves drawing. He draws people and places. And often he notices unusual clues.

  Amy reads and thinks quickly. She also collects coins, stamps, stickers, phone cards and clues.

  Together they solve mysteries in the air and at international airports.

  Airport security changes fast. If our Frequent Flyers travelled tomorrow, there would be new regulations and electronic devices.

  Some of their past mysteries were solved without the technology we have now.

  Also in the Frequent Flyers Series, by Hazel Edwards.

  Copyright © Hazel Edwards and Jane Connory, 2011.

  Written By Hazel Edwards.

  www.hazeledwards.com

  Illustration and design by Jane Connory.

  www.ineedalogo.com.au

  ISBN 978-0-9871078-0-0

  All electronic rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

  Teacher resources and activities available -

  http://www.hazeledwards.com/shop/item/1657788

  Contents

  Chapter 1 No Standing

  Chapter 2 UMs

  Chapter 3 The Lizard Lady

  Chapter 4 Wheelies

  Chapter 5 Security

  Chapter 6 Beep! Beep! Beep!

  Chapter 7 Wanded Down

  Chapter 8 On Board

  Chapter 9 Mr Gee

  Chapter 10 Bird, Birds, Birds!

  Chapter 11 Body Language

  Chapter 12 The Salami Steal

  Chapter 13 Rainbow Reasons

  Chapter 14 The Moving Hat

  Chapter 15 Mysterious Passengers

  Chapter 16 Lizard Business

  Chapter 17 Lizards

  Chapter 18 In Flight

  Chapter 19 The Lizard of Oz

  Chapter 1

  No Standing

  I’ve left Wilhelmina sitting in the No Standing zone,’ said Aunty Viv. ‘Since she’s sitting, not standing, I hope the van won’t get booked.’

  ‘Is Wilhelmina one of your relatives?’ asked the airport attendant politely.

  The twins laughed. ‘Wilhemina is a goat. She belongs to Aunty Viv’s Animal Actors business.’

  Amy remembered that earlier embarrassing moment. How could she ever forget?

  ‘Hey! You can’t park here. This is a No Standing zone!’

  The international airport was big. And so was the parking officer.

  ‘If it’s only No Standing,’ said Amy politely, ‘what about sitting? Would we still get a parking fine?’

  The animals in the back of the Animal Actors mini van made a fuss.

  ‘Sit!’ said Amy in a loud voice. ‘Sit down!’ The goat sat. Luckily, the parking officer laughed.

  ‘I’ve heard lots of excuses for parking in the wrong place. But I’ve never put a parking ticket on a goat. Where are you flying to?’

  ‘Singapore,’ said Christopher quickly.

  ‘Do you live there?’

  ‘Sometimes. Our mum’s from there and our dad’s Australian. But mostly we live here in Sydney.’

  The twins looked alike with their black hair, glasses and jeans but they were good at different things. Christopher was the artist and Amy was the collector. She collected stickers, stamps and clues. Solving mysteries was her favourite hobby. And she wore badges with slogans on them like Save The Trees and Save Anything all over her jacket. Bumping into the twins was dangerous. Amy’s badge pin might stick into you. Or Christopher might sketch you.

  The parking officer frowned. ‘You can’t leave those animals here. Hey! He’s trying to eat my pad of parking tickets!’

  Christopher was too slow. The tickets vanished between Wilhelmina’s moving jaws.

  Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

  ‘Sorry about that. Wilhelmina has snack attacks,’ Aunty Viv said.

  ‘I’ll only stay long enough to check the twins in.’ Aunty Viv stopped the goat nibbling. Christopher’s name tag was in danger.

  ‘Then my animals have to perform. They’re in a Petty Pet Food TV commercial today.’

  ‘Five minutes only,’ he warned. ‘Good thing my shift finishes now. I couldn’t write any more tickets anyway.’

  Aunty Viv parked in her usual bang crash way. ‘Grab your cases, twins. I’ll hold the goat!’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Just then, some of the name tag on Amy’s backpack vanished. Only the Y was left. AMY LEE, CLARKE RD, SYDNEY vanished into the goat’s mouth.

  ‘Oh no!’

  The goat took off, dragging her chain behind her.

  ‘Come back, Wilhelmina!’

  The chain clanked. It caught around poles. It dragged against parked cars.

  Amy and Christopher ran between the cars chasing her.

  ‘Oh no!’

  The chain caught on the bumper bar of an old car. With a giant tug, Wilhelmina got away. Part of the bumper bar came with her, slowing her down.

  ‘Got you!’

  Muddled on the ground were the twins, Wilhelmina and the chain. The bumper bar clanked as they moved.

  ‘Put the bumper bar back,’ said Aunty Viv, scribbling a note. She stuck the note on the windscreen of the old car. ‘I’ve left my name and insurance company. They’ll know it’s me, again!. Bring Wilhelmina over to the van.’

  Aunty Viv tied the goat to the rubbish bin stand. She used a special knot.

  ‘Wilhemina might eat that rubbish.’ Amy said, and looked at the bin full of lolly wrappers, banana skins and a crumpled pop magazine. A pop singer The Mouth and the singer’s little dog Bozo were on the cover.

  The goat put her head into the bin and took a bite of the magazine.

  ‘Wilhelmina’s eating The Mouth!’

  The twins laughed. ‘Perhaps we should call her that!’

  ‘I’ll be back very soon,’ Aunty Viv shouted to the parking officer’s back.

  He left in a hurry before anything worse happened.

  Quickly the twins carried their luggage through the touch- open doors. They liked travelling alone, even if listed as Unaccompanied Minors, under the care of the flight attendant.

  REPTILE SMUGGLERS ARRESTED said the headline on the newspapers outside the airport news agency. Amy glanced at the story underneath. Luckily she was a superfast reader . She sped through the news. Wildlife officers had caught two smugglers with frozen lizards stuffed in socks.

  Amy didn’t have time to buy a paper now. She’d read the rest on the plane. Newspapers were free on board. Amy liked to keep up with any international news or do the puzzles. Christopher usually read the cartoons if he wasn’t watching movies.

  Aunty Viv checked them in. Amy wrote out another label to replace the nibbled one. Their bags disappeared carried away by the moving belt. The twins collected their seat numbers.

  ‘Gate 8. Flight Q9. Okay? I’ll have to go, before my animals cause a traffic jam or get booked again! Give my love to your parents. If the pl
ane crashes over water, swim backstroke the way I taught you.’

  Aunty Viv’s black Doc Martens thudded across the departure lounge. As she turned, her long black skirt swished over a rubbish bin. It fell loudly, rolled in front of an old woman in a wheelchair being pushed by a tall, bearded man.

  ‘Careful!’ The bearded man said, and picked up the bin.

  ‘Sorry, said Aunty Viv. ‘See you, Amy. Have fun, Christopher. Draw me the best orchid you see in Singapore.’

  ‘Bye, Aunty.’ As Christopher waved, the woman in the wheelchair muttered. Her escort nodded. People usually did stare at their black T- shirted Aunty.

  Amy preferred travelling without parents or Aunty Viv who was always warning them about what to do when they crashed.

  ‘It’s gone! Look. Q9 is missing,” Christopher said, pointing at the board.

  Chapter 2

  UMs

  Christopher pointed to the flashing screen high above his head, on which flight times were listed.

  ‘Wrong one,’ said Amy fixing the pin on her all purpose Save Anything badge.

  Christopher had two hobbies: drawing people and worrying. He blinked and looked again. ‘Flight Q9 I can’t see it! But it was there before. We’ve missed the flight.’

  Amy checked her Save the Whale watch. ‘It’s only 12 o’clock. Our plane doesn’t go until 1:45 . That’s arrivals ,Christopher. We’re going, not coming. We need the departures screen. Over on the other side.’

  A breathless airport attendant with legs like a giraffe rushed towards them. She waved a list. ‘Amy? Christina? I’m supposed to be looking after you. Ever travelled alone before?’

  Christopher went red. His hair did need a cut, but, ‘My name’s Christopher, not Christina! And we’ve flown about a million times already!’ He pushed his round John Lennon glasses back on his nose. He always did that when he was cross.

  ‘Ah...Your aunt said she had to get back to where she’d parked her goat. Was she joking?’

  ‘No. Wilhelmina the goat is part of ‘Animal Actors,’ Amy explained in a said-it-all-before-kind of voice.

  Christopher added, ‘We’re okay.We always are.’

  That wasn’t true. The twins were always falling into trouble. And today was no different.

  ‘Did you see the mystery flights sign?’ Christopher pointed at it.

  Amy nodded. ‘Lucky-dip flights. People pay fifty dollars. Then they get a vacant seat on an interstate flight. They have to come back the same day. Joy- riding.’

  ‘Oh, I thought it was a flight with a mystery happening.’

  ‘I was looking for identical twins,’ the airport attendant said. That’s why I couldn’t find you earlier. You should be in the unaccompanied minors’ lounge.’

  Amy didn’t like being called a U M but it was better than being called an unaccompanied minor twin. Christopher told everyone he was born first.

  ‘No thanks. We’ve been there already, millions of times.’ Christopher preferred sketching people or wandering around. ‘Anyway, we’re not by ourselves. We’re together.’

  ‘Our flight doesn’t leave until 1.45,’ said Amy, fiddling in her purple and aqua backpack. Her passport was safe on a cord around her neck. Edwina had a mini-passport too. ‘Why isn’t it on the screen?’

  ‘That’s why I came looking for you.’

  ‘Has the plane crashed?’ Suddenly, Christopher was interested. ‘Or gone missing?’

  ‘No. The plane has been delayed. It will be an hour late.’

  ‘2.45,’ muttered Amy. That’s why Singapore wasn’t listed. The screen had room only for flights due in the next two hours.

  ‘Why is it delayed?’ asked Christopher.

  ‘Something’s missing. Not the engine,’she said quickly as Christopher’s mouth opened with that question.

  Amy watched closely. Was she covering up something? She didn’t seem to want to answer all their questions. Was something really wrong with the plane?

  ‘What else is missing?’ asked Amy.

  ‘A person.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Is it the pilot?’ asked Christopher.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Is it a passenger?’

  ‘Don’t worry about him.’

  ‘Who is he?’ Amy never gave up.

  ‘We don’t know. His baggage is here and he isn’t.’

  ‘How do you know he’s missing?’ Once Amy caught the scent of a mystery, she followed it regardless.’He might just be running late.’

  But the giraffe lady was not going to answer awkward questions. Her high heels moved nervously, like well-polished hooves.

  ‘I’ll ring your parents in Singapore. If they’re not home, I’ll leave a message at Changi which is the Singapore Airport. Wait here.’

  ‘May I go to the toilet? It’s just over there.’ Amy pointed to the international toilet sign. ‘Then I’ll come back.’

  ‘All right. But don’t wander off. I’m responsible for you. My name is Rose.’

  Amy had read her name tag already. And she smelt of roses, too.

  Christopher said, ‘I’ll wait for you out here.’

  He pulled out his sketchbook and watched through the window. Yellow lights flashed on busy vehicles. Joined-together trailers piled with bags and suitcases were pulled here and there.

  Planes came rolling up. They plugged into the tube. The airport was like a giant vacuum cleaner. People were whooshed out of the planes, up the walkways and out through security. Always the suits with briefcases came out first. Christopher started to design a giant vacuum cleaner for passengers.

  Perhaps that’s where the missing passenger could go?

  Meanwhile, Amy wondered about the real reason why the plane was late.

  Chapter 3

  The Lizard Lady

  Amy hurried into the women’s toilets. She liked all the coin machines with little packages of toothpaste, perfume and combs. You could have a shower, too.

  Ahead of her was a wheelchair. Just the back of a woman’s shoulders and head were showing. The dark hair was cut short. Like a ruff, a neck brace circled her neck. Then Amy noticed the stickers. She always noticed other people’s stickers. Mum and Dad collected stickers for her from all over the world. Most were ‘greenie’ Save The Planet stickers,but she had a few surfie ones like Hot Tuna and Billabong, too.

  Amy looked closer. There was a bright yellow sticker she hadn’t seen before. Like a frill-necked lizard. Let Our Lizards Be Frilled, Not Grilled, said the sticker. What did that mean?

  Just then, a hand pressed the control on the arm of the chair. On that hand was coiled a big lizard ring. The frills were made from opal. The chair wobbled and the bag on the handles slipped. The zip was half open. What looked like an airport security jacket was stuffed in the bag.

  Crack!

  A tawny yellow walking- stick fell on the floor. It had a lizard carving on the handle. Amy stared. There was something strange about that frilled lizard head. It matched the ring which the woman was wearing. Near the wheels there was a squeak. Did they need oiling? Or was it something else?

  Just as Amy bent forward to pick up the stick, with a quick movement ,the woman swung the chair around further. In her lap she had a mobile phone and a briefcase.

  Amy watched as the woman put down the aerial on the mobile phone.

  She’s wired for sound. I thought witches had broomsticks, not neck-ruffs, lizard jewellery and mobile phones, she thought.

  ‘Thanks, dear.’ The woman took the stick from Amy and rolled away. Amy stared after her. The voice had been an after-crying weepy sort of voice.

  When Amy came out to wash her hands, the wheelchair woman was still there, putting on pink lipstick. Her bird ear rings dangled. She was sniffing sadly. Her tissue looked stringy damp. She peered into the mirror and rubbed at the runny black masc
ara marks.

  ‘Did you say goodbye to someone?’ asked Amy kindly as she washed her hands. An airport was a hullo and goodbye sort of place.

  ‘Yes, my son. He’s always travelling. Chasing things. I don’t know when he’ll be back. He’s got a dangerous and difficult job. Especially this time.’

  Amy fished in her pocket for a clean hanky. Aunty Viv always gave them black hankies before they left . It was in case they caught a cold from the water when they crashed in the ocean. Aunty Viv bought hankies in bulk.

  ‘Have this.’

  ‘Thanks, dear,’ said the woman patting her eyes. The black mascara vanished onto the black hanky.

  A thin-faced woman with dark glasses, and wearing a big floppy hat walked past .She seemed to be watching them in the mirror. Although her face and neck were thin, she was round elsewhere. Her jacket had lots of outside pockets, a bit like Dad’s photo jacket where he kept his extra film and spare lens. For once, Amy didn’t pay enough attention. Later, she wished she’d looked more closely.

  As the hand- dryer whirred in the corner, Amy turned around.

  ‘They need a drying machine here for tears,’ she suggested. Christopher could easily design one. ‘Or for spraying smiles.’

  Once Christopher had designed windscreen wipers for their glasses. They fell off!

  Looking at her backpack tag, the old woman smiled. ‘Are you leaving soon for Singapore ,dear?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘First time?’

  ‘No. We’re meeting Mum and Dad. They shoot birds and animals.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘With their cameras. They’re photographers. They work all over the place.’

  Amy had used that ‘shooting parents’ description before. Everybody paid attention to that!

  ‘Really?’ The old woman looked very interested. But perhaps she was interested in photographs? ‘Thanks for the hanky. Sorry it’s so wet. Let me wash it and post it back to you. What’s your address in Singapore?’